This volume utilizes the emergent adulthood framework to further our understanding of marginalized youth in contemporary societies. Using data from a longitudinal study named Risky Business, the authors outline the fundamental characteristics of emerging adulthood through the lens of stories of street-involved youth. These stories inform an understanding of the powerfulness of emerging adulthood theory as a "process;" in particular, they illustrate emerging adults' view of adulthood as comprised of a) accepting responsibility for oneself, b) making independent decisions, and c) becoming financially independent. Further, street-involved youth experience and practice emerging adulthood, and then adulthood, unusually early and under unusual conditions. By examining this developmental process, the book makes a valuable contribution to research on the causes and consequences of the early onset of adulthood, the experience of instability in emerging adulthood, and the importance of social institutions' presence or absence during this period of life.

Efforts to apply ethical guidelines and regulations to vulnerable populations are often problematic. Consequently, health and social scientists sometimes shy away from the challenges of research, particularly when it means addressing value-laden social problems such as sexuality, drugs, and racism. Ethical Issues in Community-Based Research with Children and Youth is a collection of essays that describe the uniqueness of community-based research, outlining several of the ethical concerns that it engenders. The contributors examine such issues as the scope of informed consent to multiple stakeholders, determining competence to give consent in marginalized populations, and managing dual roles as participant researchers. The collection suggests that a more collaborative, ongoing, and discursive approach is needed by researchers and by ethical review boards to ensure that research on sensitive social problems with high risk populations is supported and also conducted with a clear understanding of the highest ethical standards possible.